Affiliations: Department of Neurosurgery, District Hospital, Warsaw, Poland | Department of Obstetrics-Gynecology, District Hospital, Warsaw, Poland | Department of Neuropathology, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Sobieskiego 119, 02-957 Warsaw, Poland
Abstract: In three parkinsonian patients ages 48, 53, and 50, human fetal dopaminergic cells taken from the ventral part of mesencephalon of 11–12-week-old fetuses were implanted into the head of caudate nucleus. The operation was carried out with a specially designed device to enable safe and precise graft implantation. All patients had been suffering from severe Parkinson's disease for about 10–15 years (stage 4/5 according to Hoehn and Yahr scale) with bradykinesia, rigidity and tremor as the main symptoms. Long-lasting L-dopa therapy resulted in side effects with ON/OFF syndrome and dyskinesias. A detailed clinical examination was performed before and every 3 months after the operation according to the CAPIT battery of standarized tests. The patients were under post-operational observation lasting 30, 20 and 12 months, respectively. Improvement was observed in all patients starting between 3 and 6 months after operation and is still sustained. Significant increases in movement speed for repeated pronation-supination, finger dexterity and foot lifting tests were found. The speed of walking also increased with decreased rigidity. The OFF phase during the day is of shorter duration and less severe; dyskinesias are markedly reduced. Our results indicate that fetal grafting seems to be a valuable experimental approach towards the treatment of selected parkinsonian patients.
Keywords: Parkinson's disease, Neurotransplantation, Human fetal tissue, Postoperative result
